Donovan Opens Up About Time with Everton

LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan opened up about his time with Everton to Houston’s SportsTalk 790 AM this week, ahead of Saturday’s game against the Dynamo at Robertson Stadium (10 p.m., delayed, FS-West).

Speaking to longtime soccer commentator Glenn Davis, Donovan spoke about the moment he found out that he would be starting against Arsenal and the day the Toffees beat Manchester United with his father watching from the stands - the two most memorable moments from his sojourn in England.

Asked by Davis to name one moment, on or off the field, that just stood out in his mind about the entire experience, Donovan briefly struggled to think of one and said, “I’m going to give two,” to which Davis gladly replied, “That’s fine. We’ll take two.”

“The first one was sitting in the team meal room, before we had our pre-game meal at Arsenal, the very first game (Donovan played in), where (David) Moyes came in and named the team,” said Donovan, who at that point had only trained properly with the Toffees three times. “In the back of my head, I’m thinking, it’s possible that I could play, but, you know, let’s be realistic here.

“And when he named my name and said I was on the team, it was just this feeling that I will never forget.

“It was anxiety… it was a lot of excitement. And then I realized, right in that moment, the opportunity that I had and I wanted to make the most of it. I’ll never forget that moment.

“The other moment was getting to play against Manchester United, who for most of us in America, who have grown up loving the sport, that club is the epitome of what soccer is around the world. To get a chance to play against them, to get a chance play well against them, to beat them, and my dad was there for that game, was a really, really special day for me.

All David could reply was, “wow, that must have been unbelievable with your father there.”

“Yeah, it was really cool.”

Donovan went on to say that he actually felt ill the day of the match against Manchester United and had to “pump” himself with as much medicine as possible just to be able to play.

“After the game I just kind of crashed,” he said. “We went and had a meal right away, but immediately after we were done eating I just kind of hit the wall and wasn’t feeling good so we went home. But I think we were all OK with that at that moment.”